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Radhakrishnan's Perennial Philosophy of Religion Shivam Sharma [Subject: Social Science] [I.F. 5.761] Vol. 8, Issue: 7, July: 2020 International Journal of Research in Humanities & Soc. Sciences ISSN:(P) 2347-5404 ISSN:(O)2320 771X Radhakrishnan’s Perennial Philosophy of Religion SHIVAM SHARMA PhD Philosophy Department of philosophy University of Delhi, Delhi 1. Introduction Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was one of the eminent and leading Indian philosophers and also one of the inspirational figures in Indian renaissance. He was not only a philosopher, but a teacher, scholar, administrator, statesman and also an Indian cultural ambassador. He is one of India's most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Radhakrishnan’s thought of as having built a bridge between the East and the West by showing that the philosophical systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other. He has presented a synthesis of both east and west tradition in his teachings throughout his life that is better seen in his philosophical position. The Indian spiritual approach and Scientific attitude of the west can be seen throughout his philosophical thoughts and as well as in his writings. Radhakrishnan in his philosophy of religion synthesizes the non-dual philosophy of Śaṅkara Advaita Vedānta and the notion of absolute idealism of western tradition. Thus, he presented much evolved amalgamated philosophy that consists of the finest elements of east and west both in order to put forth a reliable and universal philosophy among the modern minds. Radhakrishnan also had a comprehensive outlook of Indian tradition as his teachings are mainly grounded in classical Vedānta philosophy and reoriented the thought of Upanishads from modern frames to make them easily understandable to modern minds. Charles A. Moore also observed that “His basic approach to philosophy is the recognition of and demand for organic unity of the universe and its many aspects of the many sides of the nature of man, of man and universe, of the finite and the infinite, the human and the Divine”1 Hence, the philosophical outlook of Radhakrishnan is wide enough that focused on religion and philosophy, reason as well as intuition, both the practical and transcendental world, and does justice to each of these complex notion to put forward to the contemporary generation in a very advance manner. So, he offered an amalgamation of east-west tradition from their past to present in order to form a perennial philosophy that can include each and every one in its umbrella irrespective of any man- made difference. In this Paper, I will discuss in detail the influence of Vedānta philosophy in his teachings and views related to religion and how Radhakrishnan derived the idea of a universal religion from the Advaita Vedānta metaphysical grounds and tried to form a perennial philosophy of religion that could serve as a pill for all social evils as well as addresses all the religious dissensions and bind the plurality of religion into a thread of unity in order to establish peace and harmony for the better sustenance of human society as well as for the spiritual evolution of an individual. Radhakrishnan’s approach towards the idea of Religion 1 Charles A. Moore, “Metaphysics and ethics in Radhakrishnan‘s philosophy,” in The Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, ed. Paul Arthur schillip (U.S.A: The Library of Living Philosophers, 1952), 282. 12 Online & Print International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, & Indexed Monthly Journal www.raijmr.com RET Academy for International Journalas of Multidisciplinary Research (RAIJMR) Shivam Sharma [Subject: Social Science] [I.F. 5.761] Vol. 8, Issue: 7, July: 2020 International Journal of Research in Humanities & Soc. Sciences ISSN:(P) 2347-5404 ISSN:(O)2320 771X Radhakrishnan derived his understanding and interpretation of the idea of religion from the metaphysical grounds of Upanishads. The philosophy of Upanishads presented by Bādarāyaṇa in his work Brahma-Sūtra which is popularly known as well as accepted as the essence of the teachings of numerous Upanishads, it has been later on interpreted by many scholars of Vedānta tradition in different ways that give birth to diverse sects under Vedānta philosophy such as Śaṅkara‘s Advaita Vedānta, Dvaitavāda of Madhavāchārya, Ramānujan‘s Viśiṣṭādvaita etc. Among these all eminent and popular interpreters of Vedānta philosophy, Radhakrishnan was very much influenced by the non- dualistic philosophy of Śaṅkara more than the others.2 He like other Vedānta followers wrote commentaries on the three main texts of Vedānta called ‘Prasthānatrayī’ which are the Upanishads (1953), Bādarāyaṇa Brahma-Sūtra (1954) and on Bhagavad Gītā (1948). Radhakrishnan‘s philosophy and understanding of the idea of religion is laid on the metaphysics of Śaṅkara‘s Non-Dualistic interpretation of Upanishads. Hence, Radhakrishnan put forth his non-dualistic vision of religion to present a different model of religion that can fulfill its due purpose of true religion which is to work as an instrument for an individual to realize the latent spirituality and divinity in himself. As a follower of non-dualism philosophy originates from Śaṅkara‘s Advaita Vedānta, he holds a metaphysical idealism which recognizes the idea of supreme reality and the diversity of the material world and at the same time also preserves the notion of absolute reality (Brahman) which is transcendental, that is identical to the immanent self (Ātman). The world and each of its manifestation is not ultimately real from a higher level as it is temporal and changes every moment, thus characterized as finite and varied, on the other hand Brahman is infinite, eternal and free from all limitations, diversity and distinctions. Brahman is the foundation of the world and each of its manifestation from which it originates, but all these temporal and finite things do not affect its source Brahman and its integrity. Radhakrishnan didn‘t echo the content of the metaphysics put forth by Śaṅkara in exactly the same way, but reinterpreted its teachings as per the need of modern times and also in a more scientific way that can be simply understood by modern minds. In particular, he reinterpreted the understanding of Maya offered by Śaṅkara firmly as illusion. He comments on Dr. Albert Schweitzer‘s interpretation of Śaṅkara‘s notion of Māyā and says, “Religious experience, by its affirmation that the basic fact in the universe is spiritual, implies that the world of sound and sense is not final. All existence finds its source and support in a supreme reality whose nature is spirit. The visible world is the symbol of a more real world. It is the reflection of a spiritual universe which gives to its life and significance.”3 Apart from the conception of Māyā, he reinterprets various other concepts of Advaita philosophy in a same way as per the need of time in order to make them easily comprehensible to modern minds. Radhakrishnan was a true follower of Advaita Vedānta. The influence of Advaita philosophy can be grasped easily from his works. He does not only reinterpret but reconstruct the philosophical doctrines of Śaṅkara‘s Advaita Vedānta from the frames of developing modern science and technology and also from the point of view of western ideology. Ram Pratap Singh in his article ‘Radhakrishnan‘s substantial reconstruction of the Vedānta of Śaṅkara’ says that “Radhakrishnan has been a major force in giving this new direction to the Vedānta.”4 He also says, “the history of this process of reconstruction has been the history of the Neo-Vedantic movement in contemporary Indian philosophy which was inaugurated by Vivekananda and which has culminated in Radhakrishnan.”5 Thus, 2 Paul Thomas Urumpackal, Organized religion according to Radhakrishnan, (Roma: Gregorian Biblical Bookshop, 1972), 4. 3 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Eastern Religion and Western Thought, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 84-85. 4 Ram Pratap Singh, “Radhakrishnan's Substantial Reconstruction of the Vedānta of Śaṅkara,” Philosophy East and West 16, no. 1/2 (1966): 5. 5 Ibid. 13 Online & Print International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, & Indexed Monthly Journal www.raijmr.com RET Academy for International Journalas of Multidisciplinary Research (RAIJMR) Shivam Sharma [Subject: Social Science] [I.F. 5.761] Vol. 8, Issue: 7, July: 2020 International Journal of Research in Humanities & Soc. Sciences ISSN:(P) 2347-5404 ISSN:(O)2320 771X Radhakrishnan put forth the heritage of Vedānta philosophy to the contemporary world and imparted their teachings that are grounded in Indian classical tradition in order to bind the modern Indian minds to their roots, to provide various solutions of the social ills of their time derived from the wisdom and foresight of classical Indian seers and various intellectual persons, they also drew the attention of the whole world towards the rich culture of India. For Śaṅkara, the ultimate reality is one (Brahman) which is without the second. Brahman has three vital features which create its very essence and they are pure being (sat), pure knowledge (chit) and pure bliss (ānanda). Radhakrishnan accepts this view of Absolute reality and the influence of Śaṅkara could also be traced from his conception of the nature of world and division of reality which is very much similar to Advaita conception. As for him, the experiential world is between being and no-being because it is real from practical level but from the absolute (Pāramārthika) level it is not real.6 It is only a “dependent and derived”7 entity that springs out from Brahman (Absolute). Hence, it shows that Radhakrishnan differentiates between two kinds of reality where the first is, the reality in which all the diversity is integrated to being as one that is real in every possible situation and from every level while the other is the empirical reality where we find so much diversity and differences but it doesn‘t have any absolute validity but is real from empirical level only.8 Radhakrishnan believes that religion is simply an insight into reality; it is not any certain kind of beliefs or practices.
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